Hearst Goes Vertical With New Mobile Video Ads

What Happened
Hearst is no stranger to vertical video, as it has several subsidiaries, including Food Network and Cosmopolitan, running Discover channels on Snapchat, where vertical video is the standard format. Now, the publisher is working with select brands to create vertical video ads for its mobile sites. The new ad units are available on all Hearst sites and delivered via Hearst’s own Media OS platform. Ralph Lauren is the first brand to run a vertical video ad on Hearst sites.

What Brands Need To Do
As media consumption on mobile continues to grow, vertical videos are quickly gaining legitimacy as they incorporate viewing experiences native to the mobile platform. Snapchat, which propelled a number of brands including Coca-Cola and Dunkin’ Donuts to create vertical videos, says that vertical video ads have up to nine times more completed views than horizontal video ads on its app. Now, as Hearst brings vertical video ads from apps to the mobile web, it is time for brands to adopt this emerging mobile ad format and create videos that keep up with the changing user preference.

 


Source: Digiday

New App Utilizes AT&T’s Sponsored Data Program

Syntonic Wireless unveiled a new app that promises to take advantage of the “Sponsored Data” program of AT&T, which detracts the data you used on branded content from your monthly data plan, and lets app developers and brands pick up the tab instead. A demo of this “content store” app shows many features — from installing apps, to browsing online stores, and eventually streaming branded videos — with none of these eating into your data limit. This new development suggests a refreshing way of encouraging screen-shoppers and mobile-viewers by reducing the hefty cost of data on the consumers’ end. How well the mobile users would embrace that, however, remains to be seen.